Domestic violence not cultural, it’s a crime
By YOHANSEH ASUKILE Thursday, March 28 2013
THE
INAUGURAL conference on Domestic Violence and Gender Equality
officially got started in Tobago on Tuesday at the Magdalena Grand Beach
Resort.
Under the theme, “Protecting Women
and Girls,” the conference heard addresses from Secretary of the
Division of Health and Social Services in the Tobago House of Assembly
(THA), Claudia Groome-Duke, Minister in the Ministry of the People
Vernella Alleyne-Toppin, Dr Yitades Gebre, representative of the World
Health Organisation/Pan American Health Organisation and United States
Embassy Charge d’Affaires Thomas Smitham.
Addressing domestic violence as an epidemic, Smitham made it clear that domestic violence is not cultural...it’s a crime. Smitham said the issue of domestic violence is a priority item for the United States government. It is a foreign policy of the US and it was a focus of the recent and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he added.
A global women’s office was created by her he said to deal with many of these and similar issues affecting women and President Obama has been very supportive he noted.
The US he said continues to work on improving its response to gender base violence both here and abroad.
In 2012 they released its first ever strategy to prevent and to respond global based violence globally and it was implemented in all US agencies through an executive order from the President he stated.
From that strategy, he gave four objectives which he believed could be useful to the conference:-
I. To increase the coordination of gender based violence prevention and response among US government agencies and with other stakeholders.
II. To enhance integration of gender based violence prevention and response efforts into US government work.
III. To improve the collection analysis and use of data and research to enhance gender based violence prevention and response efforts; and
IV. To enhance or expand US government programming that addresses gender based violence.
Minister Alleyne-Toppin, read from a prepared speech on behalf of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Dr Gebre noted that violence of women is a widespread public health and human rights problem worldwide.
It has multiple health, social and serious economic consequences for the individual, the family, the community and society in general but violence against women can be prevented because there are some and promising interventions have remarked.
Women can be empowered, transforming harmful gender norms, gender empowerment, laws and policies are some of promising interventions which can be applied.
He gave the definition of as a “the public or private act of gender based violence that results or likely to results in physical, sexual, psychological harm to women, derived from unequal power relationships which may include: acts of physical aggression and harm, eg slapping, kicking, beating; emotional or psychological abuse and controlling behaviours, eg intimidation, constant belittling and humiliating and coerced sex, sexual harassment and rape.”
Addressing domestic violence as an epidemic, Smitham made it clear that domestic violence is not cultural...it’s a crime. Smitham said the issue of domestic violence is a priority item for the United States government. It is a foreign policy of the US and it was a focus of the recent and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he added.
A global women’s office was created by her he said to deal with many of these and similar issues affecting women and President Obama has been very supportive he noted.
The US he said continues to work on improving its response to gender base violence both here and abroad.
In 2012 they released its first ever strategy to prevent and to respond global based violence globally and it was implemented in all US agencies through an executive order from the President he stated.
From that strategy, he gave four objectives which he believed could be useful to the conference:-
I. To increase the coordination of gender based violence prevention and response among US government agencies and with other stakeholders.
II. To enhance integration of gender based violence prevention and response efforts into US government work.
III. To improve the collection analysis and use of data and research to enhance gender based violence prevention and response efforts; and
IV. To enhance or expand US government programming that addresses gender based violence.
Minister Alleyne-Toppin, read from a prepared speech on behalf of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Dr Gebre noted that violence of women is a widespread public health and human rights problem worldwide.
It has multiple health, social and serious economic consequences for the individual, the family, the community and society in general but violence against women can be prevented because there are some and promising interventions have remarked.
Women can be empowered, transforming harmful gender norms, gender empowerment, laws and policies are some of promising interventions which can be applied.
He gave the definition of as a “the public or private act of gender based violence that results or likely to results in physical, sexual, psychological harm to women, derived from unequal power relationships which may include: acts of physical aggression and harm, eg slapping, kicking, beating; emotional or psychological abuse and controlling behaviours, eg intimidation, constant belittling and humiliating and coerced sex, sexual harassment and rape.”
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